Cote d'Anu

Dedicated to Anupama Nambiar

Thank you for sitting here with me
Staring into the black sea not needing to say anything
Or saying too much but I know you won't avoid me next time
For being too talkative hormonal sensitive so weird
The obstacle course of adjectives they throw at you
Out there, a world of eggshells that breaks you
But I can stomp around you in well-worn shoes
Feet firm and kicking raising dust and grass
How I am how I feel how I always was jungle child

I look ugly today bad skin falling hair
Making mistakes don't know what to do
Emotional faulty scared sometimes-cute
Wouldn't dare unmask in front of others
But my friend wants nothing from me
Will still want to watch the black water white froth with me tomorrow

Is Waqt

The world leaves me behind

And I wonder what happened

Wake up one day and think this is it?

But this wasn't supposed to be

Nothing backward

Nothing forward

Just now

This moment

This unbearable existence

SRK bin ein Berliner!

When I first saw Shahrukh Khan at a concert in Muscat, Oman, in 1994, I never realised that that 20-something not-particularly-good-looking newbie would grow up to become an international sensation. Shahrukh Khan today...



...has crazy White fans!

Frankenfood

Multi-national corporations are trying to bring genetically-modified (GM) foods to India. But what does that mean? Let Mahesh Bhatt fill you in in 30 minutes.

Poison on the Platter from Jeffrey Smith on Vimeo.

Inauguration

Both Sridevi and Juhi Chawla had their noses done, the former many times over the past couple of decades, and the latter only recently. Both were top stars at one time, which wasn't that long ago. Juhi Chawla was a beauty queen once. Either way, makes you wonder.

Oh no, trout pout's come to India!

Erm, what is going on with Katrina Kaif's lips?

No one can pout that much!

Aman ki Asha

Junk in my trunk

I have been having a ridiculously down-in-the-dumps week. And then this shows up in my mailbox.

The junk mail made it past my filter to tell me that I'm a winner. No, I didn't win anything. But as I sat there mindlessly clicking through things and glanced at this bit of junk mail, it felt like an affirmation from the universe. It probably makes no sense to anyone except me, but this silly thing made me smile like a gummy baby. *wiping my baby tears*

Yes, I am a winner. And don't you - or I - dare forget it.

Demon on my back

It had been a busy summer. I was so glad. The past few months I had constantly had people to talk to, people who wanted to talk to me. My mother had been staying with me for a couple of months where I lived by myself in Tulsa, OK, USA, and seemed like every month I had a family gathering to fly to with her in some state or the other. It was the summer of sound, and I was so thankful, so grateful to be in it. I was tired but I was so happy to be around people who remembered me. A whirlwind of attention where I fit in.

The last family event, an out-of-state wedding, had wrapped up. My brother and his family had left for the airport with my mother early in the morning while I had been asleep in their hotel room. My flight back to Tulsa was later in the day. I opened my eyes, and I heard silence. It was back.

Hole

In this space there are no stars
Just dark
Vacuum
No up no down
Where you realise that you're alone
Suddenly
While brushing your teeth at night
In the middle of the drive to work
After the partiers have gone home
And it's quiet again
Filling your ears with an expanding nothing
In that silent agitation that grows in your belly
Wailing because it is never defeated

Hello, we meet again.